Features

Sevierville spirit – Husband-wife team leads fast-growing Hispanic congregation

May 20, 2013 Posted by Special Contributor Leave a Comment

At El Ministerio del Espiritu Santo, children are included and free to join in worship as they please.

By Annette Spence, Special Contributor… SEVIERVILLE, Tenn.—Three years ago, Susana Lopez was a translator in a furniture factory. Wilmer Lopez made a living out of laying tile and carpet. Today, the couple is co-pastoring what might be the largest Hispanic congregation in East Tennessee, and one of the fastest-growing Hispanic churches in the United Methodist denomination. El Ministerio del Espiritu Santo, or “Ministry of the Holy Spirit,” is located in Sevier County, a congregation of First United Methodist Church of Sevierville. The Spanish-speaking congregation worships every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday [...]

Q&A: The ‘Quiet Pentecost’ of spiritual formation

May 17, 2013 Posted by Mary Jacobs, Staff Writer Leave a Comment

United Methodists worried about declining church membership may be overlooking a more subtle renewal that’s underway, writes the Rev. Dwight H. Judy in his new book, A Quiet Pentecost: Inviting [...]

Former ‘Jesus freak’ traces evolution of Christian rock

May 16, 2013 Posted by Special Contributor Leave a Comment

By Don Lattin, Religion News Service… Bob Gersztyn owned 300 rock ’n’ roll albums in 1971, the year he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Among them were some choice 1960s vinyl from Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Mothers of Invention. But all of a sudden, this was the devil’s music. “I destroyed some of them with a hammer and took the rest to a used record store,” he recalled with a laugh. “I think I kept 10 classical music albums that I decided were [...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Bob Gersztyn, Don Lattin

In new book, seminary prof reflects on son’s death

May 14, 2013 Posted by Special Contributor Leave a Comment

By Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service… DURHAM, N.C.—Nearly eight years ago, professor Richard Lischer got a call on his cell phone that would tear at his heart and test his [...]

Church hotline provides ‘Info’ ministry

May 13, 2013 Posted by Special Contributor Leave a Comment

InfoServ staffers Vicki Wallace and Mary Lynn Holly worked side by side at the UMC’s 2012 General Conference in Tampa, Fla. UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE FILE PHOTO BY TIM TANTON

By Susan Passi-Klaus, United Methodist Communications… NASHVILLE, Tenn.—It’s happened more times than Mary Lynn Holly can count. She’s sitting at her desk at the end of a particularly difficult day, weary, ready to go home, questioning whether there’s meaning to her work. Then the phone rings, and she shifts into “help” mode. At those times, it’s always a caller who really needs her. She spends a long time with them, and doesn’t even mind when she’s late getting home. “I’ve lost count of how many times I end my day [...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Infoserv, Susan Passi-Klaus, umcom

Two clergy hit the highway to save lives

May 13, 2013 Posted by Sam Hodges, Managing Editor Leave a Comment

The Rev. Charles Maynard crossed four counties in his 100-mile walk. PHOTOS COURTESY OF FIRST UMC MARYVILLE

The goal of beating malaria in Africa put two United Methodist clergymen on the road in hilly East Tennessee. And they weren’t riding in automobiles, either. The Rev. Charles Maynard walked 100 miles from April 21-25 in the Holston Conference’s Maryville District, visiting 17 United Methodist churches to promote Holston’s ambitious goal for assisting the UMC’s Imagine No Malaria campaign. As he walked, the Rev. Randy Pasqua pedaled, covering 130 miles by road bike over two days, and visiting 19 churches with the same message. Mr. Pasqua described his journey [...]

Filed Under: Features, Home Center Position 2 Tagged With: Charles Maynard, Imagine No Malaria, Randy Pasqua, sam hodges

Shea remembered as voice of Graham crusades

May 9, 2013 Posted by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service Leave a Comment

George Beverly Shea in the mid-1940s. PHOTO COURTESY BILLY GRAHAM CENTER/WHEATON COLLEGE

George Beverly Shea, whose signature baritone voice was a standard feature of Billy Graham crusades for more than half a century, died April 16 at age 104. He died after a brief illness, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association announced. Shea, who was 10 years older than Mr. Graham, met the famous evangelist seven decades ago when he was working at Chicago’s WMBI, a Moody Bible Institute radio station. The evangelist heard him singing on the program Hymns from the Chapel, and asked Shea to sing on his new radio program. [...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, George Beverly Shea

Georgia couple finds calling in Scout leadership

May 8, 2013 Posted by Special Contributor Leave a Comment

Travis, Thomas and Cathy Shepherd celebrated earlier this year after Thomas, 16, earned his Eagle Scout rank. PHOTO COURTESY OF CATHY SHEPHERD

By Kara Witherow, Special Contributor… The Boy Scout motto is, “Be Prepared.” But Cathy and Travis Shepherd of Whigham, Ga., weren’t quite prepared for the new path God took them down nearly 20 years ago. When their son Bobby, then a first grader, brought home a slip of paper inviting him to join a new Cub Scout pack, Travis accompanied him to an informational meeting. Of the adults in attendance, only two had ever been involved in scouting. Travis was one. He volunteered to help and ended up becoming the [...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Boy Scouts, Cathy and Travis Shepherd, Kara Witherow, Scouts

Fire destroys church’s building, but not its spirit

May 7, 2013 Posted by Barbara Dunlap-Berg, UMNS Leave a Comment

The 111-year-old main sanctuary at Oconee Street United Methodist Church in Athens, Ga., lies in ruins following an April 15 fire. UMNS PHOTO COURTESY OF OCONEE STREET UMC

Sally Curtis AsKew was in Seattle, getting ready for a United Methodist Judicial Council meeting, when she learned about the fire that consumed her beloved church—Oconee Street United Methodist in Athens, Ga. The fire, detected around 10 p.m. April 15, gutted the 111-year-old structure. The cause has not been determined. The blaze apparently started in the basement of the wood structure, Ms. AsKew said. “I am sitting in a hotel room in Seattle, still crying so hard I have to stop to wipe my eyes often,” the Judicial Council clerk [...]

Filed Under: Features Tagged With: Athens, church fire, Georgia, Oconee Street United Methodist

UMCOR makes grants for Sandy recovery

May 6, 2013 Posted by LInda Bloom, UMNS Leave a Comment

Directors of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) have approved $3 million in grants for Hurricane Sandy recovery in New York and New Jersey. The work will require help from thousands of volunteers through the UMC’s volunteer-in-mission networks. PHOTO COURTESY GREATER NEW JERSEY CONFERENCE

NEW YORK—United Methodists in New York were counting on the regional shipments of 15,000 flood buckets that they distributed to Hurricane Sandy survivors last fall. But they didn’t expect the more than 11,000 blankets from a faraway source, said Bishop Martin McLee, leader of the denomination’s New York Conference. “There was this wonderful call, asking if we would receive blankets from Russia,” Bishop McLee told directors of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries on April 11 as he recounted the conference’s relief efforts. The United Methodist Committee on [...]

Sevierville spirit – Husband-wife team leads fast-growing Hispanic congregation

Q&A: The ‘Quiet Pentecost’ of spiritual formation

Former ‘Jesus freak’ traces evolution of Christian rock

In new book, seminary prof reflects on son’s death

Church hotline provides ‘Info’ ministry

Two clergy hit the highway to save lives

Shea remembered as voice of Graham crusades

Georgia couple finds calling in Scout leadership

Fire destroys church’s building, but not its spirit

UMCOR makes grants for Sandy recovery

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